Hellooooo College Park!

This is a bit overdue, but I had a glorious weekend in College Park!  It was very odd to go back to my alma mater and not really know many people.  Last time I was there, I had only graduated a few months earlier and therefore still knew many of the people on campus and in the band.  It was also homecoming so many more people showed up.  This time was quite different…the people who were freshmen when I was a senior are now seniors themselves (crazy!), and it was a random game instead of homecoming so the spectators were few and far between.  I was able to see many people who I went to school with, so that was exciting…but let me tell you…I felt so old.  Something about being around eighteen year olds really makes you realize how far you’ve come.  My goodness.

Can we also note that I am not a fan of noon football games?  We left my house at about 6:45 in the morning to make it to campus in time for some tailgating…soooo early!!  Anyway, here’s the fun in pictures:

Maryland has these specially decorated Testudos all over campus…and this one is a Marching Testudo!  Love it.

I hit my knee on the corner…showing Testudo who’s boss!

Pre-game tailgate with my dorm neighbor from sophomore year!

Maryland flag in the end zone.  Fantastic.

The band all lined up for pre-game…I remember those days!

Spelling out “Maryland” on the field…I remember being in the “a”!

Pretty view of Byrd Stadium.

My band buddy from senior year is now drum major…here she is leading the band!  I like to think I shaped her into what she is today.  :)

Aw I love Testudo!

Crowd surfing mascot!

The Rocket Scientist and me and after the big win!

With one of the gigantic Testudos on campus…rub his nose for good luck!

Chris was my bus buddy senior year…we sat together during all the band trips, so when we hopped on the shuttle bus, I knew it was picture time!

At the bar with Julianne, my band buddy!  I’ve never felt so old in a bar before…

The game itself was quite exciting…We were expected to lose (boo!), but we managed to pull through and win.  Both teams spent about ten minutes going back and forth on our 30 yard line, which made for a nail biter in the end!  The Clemson field goal kicker missed two (yes, two!  I know what he’s doing this week…) field goal attempts that would have tied the game.  Luckily, we pulled through and won.  Woohoo!  I think the Rocket Scientist and I are good luck and we need to attend more games.  Obviously the solution here.

After the game, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner (which is now open in College Park!  Oh how I wish they had one when I went to school there), which was quite tasty.  Then we headed out to the bars with my now of-age friends.  I can’t believe they’re seniors!!  Next year I won’t know anyone at all!  Very sad.  The bar was an interesting experiencing, as apparently the style these days is to wear dresses that aren’t quite dresses…in fact, I’m not sure what you would call them, but they certainly didn’t cover much.  Also, while I may not quite look the part of 25 (even though my birth certificate says so!), I definitely felt old among this crowd.  So young!

I always say that I would love to go back to college.  I love the college life…learning, going to class, projects, being involved in all the activities, etc.  I was never a huge partier or anything…I’m such a nerd.  :)  While I miss college, I realize now that I was done with it.  A part of me is sad saying that because walking around campus, I didn’t feel like it was “mine” anymore.  I’m no longer a student…other people call campus “home.”  I definitely miss the freedom and automatic group of 250 friends (go band!), but I suppose we all have to grow up sometime!

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Marching band nerds…I mean awesomeness

Dear doctor,

Thank you for not biting my head off you returned a page that the previous shift had made and I wasn’t fully prepared to take your call.  I appreciate the fact that you kindly reminded me to have all the information at hand instead of screaming at me for wasting your time.

Love, Susan

In my defense, the patient had only been back about ten minutes, most of which were spent getting her back into bed and changing her diaper.  Like I said, I appreciate constructive criticism much better than I enjoy getting yelled at.  Overall, not a terrible week at work.  KNOCK ON WOOD.  This is probably the first week that I’ve worked all five days since…July?  That’s a bit crazy and super tiring.  My legs are tiiiiiired.  And I’m not even running much…blah.

I’m thinking I should have a doctor check out my leg…I don’t even have a primary care doctor here yet.  (Is that bad?  I don’t know…)  My insurance website has a doctor look-up where you can search for doctors that take my insurance, and I found a sports medicine doctor nearby.  Maybe I should make an appointment…It’s been about two weeks since I’ve run and my leg still hurts.  Better safe than sorry…especially maybe with time to salvage my marathon attempt.  I hope.

M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D

I’m so excited for tomorrow!  The Rocket Scientist and I are headed to Maryland to watch our Terrapins take on Clemson.  I haven’t been to a MD football game since Fall 2007…long overdue!  My post-college football experience is a bit different than my college football experience, as I spent four years in the glorious marching band.  While I loved it, I never tailgated or anything like that.

Then:

Pre-game rehearsal…freshman year!!  Guess which one is me??

Massage line?  Yes, please!

With the Rocket Scientist!  (Yes, I played the trombone…AWESOME.)

Trucking into the game!

Awesome pre-game picture of (half of) my section.  :)

 

Maryland shield on the field!

Now (circa Fall 2007):

My first tailgate EVER with my roomie.  :)

SOOOOOO EXCITED.  Jess!  Let me know if  you’re going to be there…we can exchange numbers and have a bloggie meet-up!  I’m working tonight, but I’ll check back late tonight/tomorrow before we leave.  I hope to see you!

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in a rush

always in a hurry

Yesterday was just another day at work…I started with four patients with the knowledge that I would be getting a post-op at some point during the night.  As the night went on, I realized that my post-op wouldn’t be coming up until late in the night.  While this bodes well for the rest of the night, it makes for a madhouse when they come up from the PACU at 9:00pm and I have ALLLLL the paperwork to do and four other patients to deal with…all while trying to get out on time.  I wouldn’t have been worried if my manager didn’t yell at me on a daily basis about getting out on time.  We’re just supposed to leave stuff for the next shift to do since nursing is a 24/7 job, but no one likes having stuff left for them.  I did most of the paperwork (OBSCENE AMOUNTS), but I did it in a hurry and I left hoping I didn’t forget to do something.  That’s all I think about all day.

You’re not supposed to dread going into work, right?  Ugh.

the job search

On Sunday night, I applied to a job I (think I) would like…it’s at a large university hospital in the city.  Any tips on getting my foot in the door?  Should I call HR to “make sure” they got my resume?  Maybe it’s too soon to start looking…but maybe not.

biking, day three

I went “the other way” on the local trail today, which was fun to explore.  I don’t usually go that way because it becomes pretty isolated after about 2.5 miles, and I’m wayyyy too much of a worry-wart to be a female runner on an isolated trail.  But, on a bike…I worry less because I can fly away from any scary people.  :)  I biked the furthest that I have yet (okay…not say much) and for the longest time.  Woo!  The only problem with this way on the trail is that it is mainly downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back…yikes!  But I survived…my shin is kind of sore right now…I don’t think that’s from biking?  Biking isn’t supposed to hurt…right?  Gah.  I foam rolled when I got home…fantastic.

Wednesday, September 30
16.31 miles in 1:12:27, avg pace of 4:26 (13.5 mph)

My speed was in between my two previous rides, so I’ll count that as a victory.  I guess.  I just miss my running shoes.

Okay, I don’t really have anything exciting to report today.  Off to work…hoping it’s a good day…

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It’s All About the Bike

If you haven’t tuned in for awhile, you may not know that I am currently taking a break from running.  I haven’t successfully run more than two miles since September 17…yikes!  It started in my shin, and while my shin feels better now, something is weird with my knee.  My form isn’t correct at all, and it would be impossible to get through any sort of mileage without lots of pain and slow, slow, slow running.  Basically, it wouldn’t be constructive at all, and I’d probably ruin my shot at the Philadelphia Marathon.  So, I’m riding a bike for now.

I’ve never really had to deal with any major injuries in my running career.  This is a pretty good feat, as I’ve been running since the seventh grade (circa 1997…check out my running story!).  That’s a long time to go without any major injuries, so I think I’m pretty lucky.  Every now and then my shins would hurt at the end of cross country season (and there was that one time when I ended my season during marching band practice…but I guess I tried to keep that out of my mind!), but overall, no major problems.  I’ve always been a runner and never much of a cross trainer, so I’m a bit at a loss of what to do.  The gym that I signed up for doesn’t open until November, so that doesn’t help me much now!  I would totally jump in the pool and such if I could.  For now, I am stuck riding the bike that I borrowed from the Rocket Scientist’s parents.

I have no clue how to bike.  Sure, I rode my bike all the time when I was younger.  I was known for riding around the neighborhood, asking my friends to join me on a bike ride and we would ride and go play on local playgrounds for hours.  Those were the days.  Anyway.  Not for speed or a workout or anything.  I don’t even know what a “good” bike workout is, what gears to be in, how far to ride to attempt to simulate marathon training (although never a real comparison), etc.

Any insight would be lovely!  I know there are bloggers out there who faced similar situations.  Help this non-biker runner out!

I took the bike out for a spin yesterday and didn’t hate it too much, so I took it out again today.  I was a bit jealous biking by anyone who was running…it made me so sad!  I’ll be back there soon, I hope.  At least I’m getting in some cardio.  Here are my stats from garmin, even though I have no clue what they really mean or if they’re really any good at all!

Monday, September 28
13.51 miles in 1:03:01, avg pace of 4:40 (12.9 mph)

Monday’s ride was on the local trail where I run, which has minimal hills.  Is 12.9 an okay pace?  Beats me.  Although I was thinking about it, and I was riding about as fast as the top male marathoners run.  That kind of made me sad…

Tuesday, September 29
10.02 miles in 43:25, avg pace of 4:20 (13.9 mph)

HILLS ON THIS ROUTE.  I’m not sure which I like less…running up hills or biking up hills.  Neither one is particularly pleasant, although it is definitely more fun to bike down the hills!  I was flying on some parts…woo!

foam roller

Yowza!  Rolling out your IT band is painful!  I was going through the exercises on the DVD that the foam roller came with, and I kept thinking “oh, this isn’t too bad.”  Then we got to the IT band…gahhh what pain!  I guess that means it’s working??

Time for some mental preparation for work…I had a good night last night and actually got out on time, but I’m always scared to go into work to find out that I missed something or that I made a mistake and didn’t realize it or something.  It happens…although I wish it didn’t…

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Wedding weekend!

Okay, I lied…here’s the wedding post now! It was so much fun!  While the weather wasn’t 100% perfect, the rain held off until everyone was in the reception hall, so I think it was cooperative enough.  The Rocket Scientist’s two friends from high school made up the lovely wedded couple…they’ve been dating since high school (we graduated in 2003!), so it was about time.  :)  RS has some fun friends from high school who I’ve met and seen throughout the years, and they were fun wedding company.  Since we all know a picture is worth a thousand words, let’s relive Saturday via photography…and you can see which dress I chose.  :)

We saw this dog chilling in the driver’s seat at a location prior to the wedding…I thought it was HILARIOUS.

The bride and groom exchanging vows!

On the way to the car…

Check out their ride!  An English taxi!

Rocket Scientist and me…in the blue dress!!  (It boogies quite well!)

Each table had its own pasta, and the favors were homemade pasta sauce!  The groom is Italian and has traveled Italy extensively.

Blurry as can be first dance to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

LOVED the cake!  So pretty.  And tasty too!

I got the only vanilla slice at my table.  :)

Rocket Scientist and his high school boys…and his dad…haha

High school girls/girlfriends of the boys…and RS’s mom.

I didn’t bring my camera on the dance floor, although lots of fun dancing was performed!  I may not have many moves (the only dance class I took was for a girl scout badge…), but I know how to have a good time!  We tried requesting Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA, but it hasn’t reach the Billboard Top 100, so the DJ didn’t have it.  :(  That’s okay, we still got to boogie down to other classics.  The open bar is always quite nice, but I don’t remember the last time I had three glasses of wine and two beers…that may not be much to some of you, but I was quite sleepy when we got home!  I thought that the wedding ended a bit early, as we were cleared out around 10pm.  There was much talk about who was going to be fighting for the bouquet, but the bouquet toss never ended up happening!  I know I saw a bouquet labeled “tossing bouquet” on the head table, but they must have decided to skip that tradition.  It’s probably overrated, but it’s fun to watch girls fight for the bouquet!  I guess you can have a wedding without a bouquet toss…

Overall, the wedding was quite fantastic (what wedding isn’t??), and I have to gear up for the Rocket Scientist’s sister wedding in two weeks.  Wedding season is upon as…as is marathon season!  Or both, in some cases…

I’m totally putting off going to bed…the later I stay up, the less quickly Monday comes…right?  Please say yes…

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Foam Roller Fun

I just wanted to do a quick post to demonstrate the glory of my recent purchases.  Since I’m still experiencing shin and knee pain while running, the Rocket Scientist and I headed over to his parents’ house to borrow a bike for my cross training purposes.  Since it’s been awhile since I rode a bike, we stopped at Dicks Sporting Goods to pick up a bike helmet (safety first!)…and we checked out their foam roller stock.  Score!  See below for fun.

Foam rolling is dangerous business…helmet needed!

Happy foam rolling!

Foam rolling is exhausting…

Wedding recap coming tomorrow!

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Target: FAIL. Run: FAIL.

nursing personality

Last night at work wasn’t too bad…until my post-op came back at 10pm!  I waited for her all shift, and then they sent her up a little after 10.  This does not bode well for getting out on time!  We’re supposed to leave stuff for the next shift (since nursing is a twenty-four hour job), but I hate leaving all that for the next shift since I hate being dumped on.  I got her fluids up, her pain under control, and called the doctor about her blood pressure.  That’s all I could do…and I still got out late since three of the nurses I was giving report to were coming from other floors.  They had to give report on the floor they were pulled to and then come up and get report.  I have a feeling I’m going to go into work today and be told that I just should have left without giving report because my manager is telling people to do that now.  That’s safe, right?  I have a license that I would like to keep.

Anyway, one of patients (easy as pie patient to take care of!) told me last night that I went into the right profession for my personality.  It’s nice to hear that every once in awhile because we never really get positive feedback from our manager…just criticism.  For example, yesterday we were reviewing mistakes that I made a couple weeks ago.  You know, the second to worst night of my life at work?  (With the worst night being Wednesday of this I-hate-my-life week.)  I hate to say it…but mistakes will be made when I only have three months of experience and you give me six patients and zero time to think on a floor I work on.  Just saying.

target:  FAIL

So I went to Target today to get a foam roller, as I’m willing to try anything to help my shin (and now knee…more on that later) feel better.  First of all, there were mad amounts of traffic on the way to Target.  I live in a town of 4,000 people (okay, 5,600 now that the local college is back in session), but urban planning is nonexistent and I don’t think people work…at all.  Or maybe tons of old retired people live around here.  Either way, traffic was backed up for two miles.  I don’t understand this place.

Anyway, I find the “exercise” section of Target, and the ONLY THING that they’re completely out of is the foam roller.  I had no clue they were so popular!  Time to hit up Amazon, I suppose…

run: FAIL

My legs felt a little better today, so I figured I would try to go out for an easy, easy (emphasis on EASY) four mile run.  With the option to do three.  Or five.  Well, I made it to the end of my street (read:  about a tenth of a mile) and my knee felt all funny and my form was wayyyyy off.  This run clearly wasn’t going to go well.  I decided to detour and run around the block (about half a mile) to get a better gauge of how I was feeling.  With my limpy form, I decided to call it a day when I returned home.  I looked up Caitlin’s (from Healthy Tipping Point) knee exercises and did them…I’m open to anything, I just want to run again…

brrrr, it’s cold in here

Icing as we speak.  That was the only non-fail part of Target.

the dress dilemma

Looks like the blog world is split on my dress dilemma!  I’m going to consult my mother by phone tomorrow (pre-wedding…cutting the decision time so close!), but I do think that I need to consider the boogie factor.  Yasi reminded me of this important consideration…you have to be able to do the electric slide in the dress!  This makes me lean more towards the blue dress.  I know you’ll be on the edge of your seat all night waiting for my decision!

Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.  Happy Friday to everyone!

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Dress Dilemma

After work yesterday, I headed to the local (huge, massive) mall to get my mom’s birthday present (it’s in October…I can’t believe it’s almost October already!), and I walked around a little bit because I had some time to kill before heading to Princeton for the night.  I wandered into Macy’s and just happen to look at their dresses.  I have multiple weddings coming up, so for the past few months I’ve had my eye out for a new dress to wear to at least one or two of them.  However, I’m a bit picky and hate spending money, so I better really like what I buy!  It is also a little known fact that my mom is my favorite (and only!) person to shop with, which makes shopping a bit difficult when we are 650-some miles apart.  I narrowed down my choices to two and decided to buy both and then ask for opinions.  So, here we are!  My two options are:

Black with red flair.  I loooove the color red, and I think adding anything red to a dress gives it a boost!

Black top with a blue patterned bottom.  I love the shape of this dress, especially the neckline…which is surprising to me because I’m usually a strapless dress kind of girl!

So, which one do you like better?  I really like the black/red dress, but I think that the black/blue one is more versatile.  It can be dressed up with heels or dressed down a little with some flats (or flip flops, as the case would be in my line of fashion).  Also, it seems a little more wedding-appropriate, if there is such a thing.  The black/red one seems much more formal to me, but I like the bottom on it a little better.  Thoughts?  Opinions?  Hate them both??  One wedding that I would be wearing this dress to is on Saturday (yay!), so I need to make a quick decision…totally not my style!  I look forward to hearing your picks!

on the sidelines

Taking another day off of running…I don’t remember the last time I went five days without running!  I don’t understand how people can sit around all the time since I feel like such a slug!  (It probably doesn’t help that I’m still eating like I’m running fifty miles this week…oops?)  I iced last night (with a bag of green beans, if that counts), and I’ll ice today before work and then when I get home.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll try heading out for a short run…we shall see.  I’d rather play it safe for the time being.

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IV Master

if you need an IV, i’m your girl

Instead of working a normal shift tonight, I went to the hospital’s pre-op area to practice starting IVs all day.  People who are having outpatient surgery show up about an hour and a half before they’re scheduled for surgery, and a nurse starts an IV, draws any necessary labs, goes over the pre-op checklists, etc.  Basically, I got to start IVs on a bunch of people.  Let’s just say I was at 100% for the day!  I got each one on the first stick…woo!  However, I must say that these people have much better veins than some of the people we see up on the floor.  Since they’re coming and going from surgery in the same day, they’re generally a little bit healthier.  My confidence is still up, however!  This area of the hospital is MUCH less stressful than the floors, and it’s easy to see why older nurses work there after working at the bedside for so long.  I could see it getting old day after day, but it was definitely a nice change of pace.

mercy

As I blog, I’m watching the new nursing/medical show Mercy.  While I was slightly annoyed that the first five minutes of the show included a patient yelling about “stupid nurses,” I haven’t really seen enough to form a real opinion.  I identify slightly with the new grad nurse, who one review says she looks like she’s never been in a hospital.  For the record, I looked like a deer in the headlights for at least the first two weeks of orientation!  It doesn’t help that I look twelve.  I may not watch the show on a regular basis (since, you know, I’m usually working now!), I may tune in now and again.  I think that the media plays a huge role on how the public views nurses and the medical profession in general, so I think it’s important to tune into shows that have a nursing emphasis.  One of my patients today asked if the three little bubbles in her IV tubing would kill her like she saw on TV last week.  (The answer is no.)

i love me some leftovers

Over the weekend, I made some a Black Bean Tortilla Casserole, compliments of allrecipes.com.  (Love that site!)  Anyway, this is a quick and easy recipe and makes for awesome leftovers…especially when you’re cooking for one.  :)  I probably should have halved the recipe, but I’ll be happily eating it all week!

Mmmm fresh out of the oven!

My slice with some tomatoes and green onions on top!

injured reserve

Took another day off from running.  It hurt while walking around at work and going up and down stairs, so i figured another day would be a good idea.  Maybe tomorrow…

I’ve thought about getting a foam roller…maybe that would help loosen me up a bit?  No clue.

randomness

Sorry about the randomness of my posts lately…I kind of like the variety, and I hope you do too!

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Rest + shoe advice + dress! + pasta

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven’t posted about running for the past few days.  My last post about a “run” was on Saturday, and we all know what a disaster that was.  My shin still hurts, which is terrible.  I decided to take some time off because it was very painful to run and I don’t want to risk injury at this point in the game.  Training has been going well and I don’t want to risk losing the marathon that’s two months away still.  I have plenty of time to recover (hopefully…) and still be in great shape for the marathon.  I kind of wish I had a bike or something so I could be doing some sort of cardio…sadly the gym I signed up for doesn’t open until November otherwise it would be PERFECT right now.  I’ll see how I feel tomorrow…maybe I’ll just try going out for a few miles.

it’s all in the shoes

I switched my shoes at work to a less old pair of old running shoes…I definitely need to buy better shoes.  Do any nurses/doctors/other people who spend wayyy too much time on their feet have any recommendations for good shoes?  I’ve heard about Dansko shoes, but they’re a bit expensive…although worth it if they’re really as great as people say they are.  Especially because I bet they last longer than three months, which is about how much I’m getting out of my running shoes!  (and that’s with rotation…yikes!)

here comes the bridesmaid

My friend who is getting married actually picked our bridesmaid dresses, as well as the color!  This is none other than a major victory, so I’m pumped.  This is the winner, color and all (no, that’s not me!):

I headed over to the not-so-local David’s Bridal to try on sizes and placed my order, so it will be all mine in about six weeks!  We’re going to wear silver shawls during the ceremony because we have to have our shoulders covered.  My friend (another bridesmaid) is making them with her mom, so at least that will cut down on costs a bit.

cooking light presents

My mom sent me a subscription to Cooking Light (yay!) since I always read hers when at home, and they have some tasty recipes.  When I got my first issue, I immediately bookmarked some recipes!  I started with this Fresh Tomato, Sausage, and Pecorino Pasta recipe.

Not the best picture, but it was tasty!

I haven’t had sausage in awhile since it’s not really all that healthy, but it added a great taste to the pasta.  I would definitely make this again!  I also had some lemon-y asparagus on the side, which was fantastic.  This recipe seemed to make many more the the four servings that the recipe says it makes, which just means I get to enjoy it that much longer!

Back to the Biggest Loser!

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